London to Malta – in a day
While we’re in congratulatory mood, serious respect to Douglas Cairns and Karl Beetson who have just set a World Aviation Speed Record, flying a Vans RV8 and Vans RV4 from Denham to Malta in a single day. The trip involved 13 hours of flying and three fuel stops (Le Touquet, Gap Tallard in the French Alps and Figari Sud on the southern tip of Corsica). Of course, there’s quite a lot of these sort of flights going on, so it’s worth...
CTC Aviation staff raise over £6,000 for Aerobility
Congratulations and respect to staff at CTC Aviation who have just presented UK flying charity Aerobility with a cheque for £6,080. CTC Aviation staff members raised funds through a variety of events. According to Aerobility Chief Executive, Mike Miller-Smith MBE, the donation will provide integral project and programme funding to Aerobility, which relies entirely on donations – in cash and kind – to enable disabled people...
Dynamic rollover
Every so often the accident reports include an account of a helicopter that crashed before it had even taken off. Usually what happened was that the pilot started up the machine, did all the necessary checks and prepared to depart, and then began to lift the helicopter into a hover as usual. But in this instance the helicopter didn’t raise itself into a hover; instead, it suddenly and for no apparent reason turned over on to its side....
Air BP’s second Sterling Pilot Scholarship awardee announced
Air BP has awarded its second Sterling Pilot Scholarship to 17 year old Aberdeen student, Zoë Burnett. This award which is valued at £10,000 will enable Zoë to complete her Private Pilot’s Licence (PPL) and take the first step towards realising her ultimate ambition of becoming a commercial airline pilot. Keen to get started, Zoë commenced her PPL training at Tayside Aviation at Dundee Airport in Scotland on 14 June. On being selected...
Mind games for pilots
On the morning of the 24th March 2015 the scene on board the Germanwings Airbus A320 was about as normal as a scheduled airline flight can be. The flight had departed from Barcelona around 30 minutes earlier and just reached cruising altitude as it headed for Dusseldorf. Approaching the French coast the captain left the cockpit, in all probability for a toilet break. It was at this moment that the co-pilot set the autopilot for a...
